Giving ‘Fashion Editor’ a Makeover

Nina Garcia is a judge for “Project Runway,” an editor at Marie Claire and a book author.Credit
Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

NINA GARCIA, the “Project Runway” judge and fashion editor, was on a flight from New York to Paris fashion shows last year when a flight attendant crouched beside her and meekly tried to strike up a conversation. Just another fan of the show, Ms. Garcia assumed, seeking gossip.

But the flight attendant, it turned out, wanted wardrobe advice for a somewhat tricky wedding. Her sister was marrying a man whom the flight attendant used to date. Save for a burlap bag over the head, what does one wear?

Ms. Garcia coolly issued her verdict: “Don’t try to upstage the bride. You’ll only look desperate. But be sure to remind the guy what he lost.” And one more thing: “Definitely don’t wear white.”

As a face of pop-culture fashion, Ms. Garcia, 43, has become a magnet for strangers seeking advice. So earlier this month, she came out with “Nina Garcia’s Look Book: What to Wear for Every Occasion” (Voice), which tries to answer them all.

It’s a complicated time for the grandes dames atop the mastheads of fashion magazines. They face an advertising base shaken by a lingering recession, and the rise of bloggers and Web-savvy fashionistas — some of whom were in Underoos the last time harem pants were in style — who are eating away at the once-uncontested influence of magazine editors to shape trends.

But Ms. Garcia has managed to sidestep the existential crisis facing her contemporaries by transforming herself into a Lanvin-bedecked populist style guru. In addition to translating the doctrines of Seventh Avenue from her perch at Marie Claire (where she landed after a rather public split from Elle), Ms. Garcia stars in makeover videos on Target’s Web site and continues to be a judge on “Project Runway,” now in its eighth season.

“The fashion editor as it used to be has changed,” Ms. Garcia said, over lunch in the cafeteria at the Hearst Tower on West 57th Street, where Marie Claire is published. She wore a black silk tunic top by Michael Kors (a fellow judge) and a Zara skirt that barely hid her bulge from being six months pregnant. “Now you have to wear many hats, and whoever tells you differently is wrong. Now you’re on TV, whether you want it or not.”

Nevertheless, Ms. Garcia is an unlikely person to be cast as a fashion Everywoman. She grew up in Barranquilla, Colombia, the daughter of a jet-setting shipping magnate. After attending Boston University, Ms. Garcia studied fashion in Paris and New York. But, she said, she really learned it at the knee of her mother, who wore Pucci and Céline.

After a stint as an intern for Perry Ellis in the late 1980s, she quickly rose from an assistant stylist at Mirabella to fashion director at Elle in 2000. Still, she was relatively unknown outside the industry when her bosses roped her into Bravo’s “Project Runway.” (The show has since moved to Lifetime.)

Until she learned that Michael Kors and Heidi Klum were co-stars, Ms. Garcia was dubious. Those were the days before fashion magazines, breathless for publicity, swung open their doors to camera crews. Reality television ranked low in prestige in the eyes of fashion insiders, whose idea of a must-see show was Oscar de la Renta in the Bryant Park tents.

Besides, she said, “I’m really very shy when it comes to being out there, so my initial reaction was: ‘No, I’m not going to be part of the show, it’s crazy. Who cares about fashion? Who’s going to watch it?’ ”

To her surprise, even members of the fashion peerage were swept up in the drama. Ms. Garcia recalled when Bee Shaffer, Anna Wintour’s daughter, called the production company for tickets to the taping of the first season finale. By that point, Ms. Garcia — whose on-camera critiques of contestants, doled out in her regal Spanish accent, are dryly acerbic and devastatingly blunt — was on her way to becoming a celebrity of sorts.

The exposure also brought unwelcome attention, including the news stories and gossip items that detailed her ouster from Elle in 2008. Ms. Garcia, who is considered a master at internal politics, was portrayed as being caught on the wrong side of a power struggle between the fashion department, overseen at the time by Gilles Bensimon, and the editorial staff, headed by Roberta Myers.

She wasn’t out of work for long. Joanna Coles, the editor of Marie Claire, quickly hired her. And not only did Ms. Garcia stay on as a judge on “Project Runway” (Marie Claire replaced Elle as a partner), but she appeared in another show, “Running in Heels,” which followed real-life Marie Clarie interns clawing for their chance to live out their own “Devil Wears Prada” fantasy.

Throughout, Ms. Garcia never deviated from her personal style. She eschews frivolity, relying on classic, almost minimalist pieces. The vast closets at her Upper East Side apartment, which she shares with her husband, David Conrod, a financier, and their son, Lucas, 3, are organized by color, with a heavy tilt toward blacks and navies.

That also informs her basic fashion message: go for simple elegance. It is the best way, she said, for women to dress when faced with thorny situations, like what to wear if you’re single and going out with girlfriends on Valentine’s Day. Knee- or thigh-high boots are a good option, she wrote: "Putting on fierce boots is an instant pick-me-up."

Those are the questions “Look Book” is designed to help readers navigate. In it, Ms. Garcia comes across more as a benevolent aunt than an acid-tongued arbiter of high fashion. The advice is frank but encouraging.

What to wear when breaking up? “You might choose something dark, perhaps steely gray, to match your resolve.” Volunteering in a soup kitchen? “I don’t know any way to rock a stylin’ hairnet,” she writes, adding, “just in case, bring a knit cap that can cover your coif.” Meeting a guy’s parents? “Go for warm earth tones or soft florals; both are inviting and grounded.”

This is not to say Ms. Garcia has all the answers. She admits that next month, she will face her own thorny dressing challenge. What do you wear to the tents at New York Fashion Week when you’re seven months pregnant?

“That,” she said, “will be a vexing situation.”

A version of this article appears in print on August 26, 2010, on page E6 of the New York edition with the headline: Giving ‘Fashion Editor’ a Makeover. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe